We recently participated in Zero Carbon Moreland’s draught proofing initiative for residents of Moreland. We have done a lot of draught proofing ourselves but it’s always good to get an ‘expert’ eye cast over things. There were also I couple of things that we were unable to do without the necessary tools. We live in a single story terrace house which is over 100 years old. I’ve lived there about seven years and in that time have had no yearly property inspections. Any repairs are done extremely grudingly and only if the landlord considers them essential. Even the real estate agent calls him “a real tight ass”.

I made  an appointment for an installer to visit our home. The installer arrived promptly at the appointment time and I pointed out our front door as the area most in need of repair. We’ve tried blocking the top gap with wood but it makes it hard to open and close in summer when the wood swells. We constantly have a door snake against the bottom of the door otherwise dust and leaves can blow in!

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August 3, 2010 by Carolyn Boyd,

As featured in Talking Property,Domain

The Age Newspaper

It can be desperate times if you are looking to rent something. Especially when vacancy rates are dipping under 2 per cent in some areas, such as Melbourne’s inner city and its outer reaches.

Even if you’re not too fussy, tight rental vacancy rates in many cities means the situation can be dire. So it’s not surprising that when we asked our readers what they had done to secure a rental property, more than one-quarter said they had offered more than the asking price, taking a punt that a landlord couldn’t resist some extra income.

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We’ve mentioned the Australian Federal government’s home sustainability assessments program regularly in the past on our website, in our workshops and at events. Whilst the program has changed since July 1st and is no longer offering loans towards any recommended improvements, the assessments are still available, still free and we heartily recommend them as a useful insight into your home’s energy efficiency.

Whilst we maintain a list of assessors we recommend in particular areas and don’t necessarily recommend any particular assessor over another, Green Return have started an associates program that means groups who refer assessments to them get a small commission, so not only do you get a free assessment, but you get help fund groups like Green Renters.

So, what do you need to do?
Simple, head to greenreturn.com.au/book-now and enter ‘GRS‘ into the referral code box when you book your assessment, and that’s it.

Thanks! Enjoy your assessment, it’s very enlightening…

Environment Victoria’s popular free renters guide has been reprinted!

The guide is also downloadable and is full of tips on how to reduce their environmental impact and their bills, without needing a big budget.

The guide’s available at: www.environmentvictoria.org.au/rentersguide

It includes sections on everything from heating to fridges to food, as well as information on government rebates, a checklist for people looking for a new place to rent, and an explanation of renting law in Victoria.

Whilst we all know decreasing our car usage is an effective if not always easy step in reducing our carbon footprint. As Australian suburbs gradually become more dense, renters in inner city suburbs may also increasingly find that they have a decreasing amount of space to park and store cars.

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If you’re a City of Melbourne or City of Yarra resident and would like some help bringing your home up to environmental standards, potentially getting lightglobes and showerheads replaced, insulation advice and more then you’re in luck.

The two councils have accessed funding from the State Government’s Energy Saver scheme and in the case of the City of Melbourne, several other sources, and coordinated organisations in their areas to carry out assessments and installations for little or no cost.

If you live in the City of Melbourne,  visit here to find out more.
If you live in the City of Yarra, visit here for more information.

Apologies for that headline there, it was cheesy and mildly offensive (to some), but I wanted to grab your attention and tell you about a bunch of great and really interesting links I came across yesterday.

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